The New Turk
by Zeffie Turqoise
Summary: A new Turk is recruited by Rufus, and all hell breaks loose. Who is this mysterious woman? What ties does she hold to Reno's shady past? And how will she affect the future of the Turks? I'd say more, but these boxes are waaaaaay too small...
1. Chapter 1

The air in the seedy bar was filled with the scent of cigarette smoke, sweat, and cheap perfume. The tall blonde man in the white suit looked outrageously out of place among the gloomy men and shady ladies. He was aware of the eyes following him as he strode confidently across the dimly lit room, but he ignored them, preferring to focus his attention on the shape hunched at a table in one of the dark corners. It was huddled around a tankard of beer, and surrounded by empty bottles.

The man in white sat down in the small chair across from the figure, and addressed it as if he were conducting a job interview.

Which he was, in a way.

"Zen Fellows, I presume?"

The figure lifted its head, revealing nothing of its face.

"Who wansa know?" It slurred.

"My name is Rufus Shinra."

"Oh, yeah. I hearda you." The darkness clad figure wobbled slightly on its stool. "Wadda ya want from me?"

Rufus steepled his fingers beneath his chin.

"I have heard of your considerable skill, Miss Fellows, and I must say, I am disappointed at your choice in places of alcoholic refreshment."

The shape stood up and slammed a hand down on the table. Though the hand was delicate and the fingers well manicured and slender, and the owner of the hand was obviously not sober, the movement still managed to shake the table considerably.

"You sayin' I got bad taste in bars?"

"Um… no?"

"Good." The person sat down again, relaxing. "I thought you were just another heckler gonna say I was a washout."

"Ah…no. Though that is actually the reason I have chosen to contact you." Rufus shifted in his seat, unaccustomed to the grime.

"As you may know, I have a small group of elite bodyguards that I like to call the Turks. I have been interested in you for sometime, but I never had a chance to see you about the matter before."

He stared at her for a moment, before saying, "I would like to recruit you to become one of my Turks."

The girl was silent.

"Miss Fellows?"

"No."

Rufus was surprised, but not really. He had anticipated that she would reject his offer.

He had ways of dealing with scenarios like this.

Sighing melodramatically, he snapped his fingers. "If you want it that way."

Two men in black suits melted out of the shadows behind him. One had long, black hair and a small black blemish in the center of his forehead, and the other was tall and dark with a small, well-trimmed beard and mustache, his eyes concealed behind black sunglasses.

Zen Fellows stood up warily. "Who're you?"

The two men didn't respond, and the one with the sunglasses picked her up with one arm and tossed her over his huge shoulder. She was too drunk to really fight back, and her pounding fists were about as effective as throwing marshmallows at a wall.

The three men walked out of the sleazy bar, with the young women in tow.

Hopefully, she would pass out by the time they got to the car, and then she wouldn't squirm so much, and they could get to where they were going in silence. That was the objective of the mission. To recruit Zen Fellows in a way as silent and surreptitiously as possible.

The mission had been a success.


	2. Chapter 2

Zen Fellows awoke to a dimly lit room and one hell of a hangover. For a moment she thought that maybe she had passed out again after one too many beers, but the floor of the bar was colder, less comfortable. And also, the dark wooden slats of the bar floor were stained, and smelled like things that Zen would rather not mention.

At the moment, her head appeared to be resting on a very soft, very white thing that smelled like washing detergent. She was pretty sure it was a pillow, but as the hangover was blurring her vision, she couldn't be sure.

The door creaked open, and Zen's eyes snapped towards the direction of the sound.

A blonde head poked around the door cautiously, followed by the body of a young woman, clad in a black business suit.

"Good morning!" The blonde said cheerfully, crossing the room.

"Um…hi. Where am I?"

"ShinRa Enterprises, apartment division, residence of President Rufus Shinra and the Turks!" said the woman jauntily. "I'm Elena, and I'll be showing you around today!"

She reached for the window.

Zen bolted upright. "No, don't open that-!"

She fell back on the pillows, shrieking and shielded her eyes against the blinding light of the open curtains. Elena turned around, a concerned look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"Light…hurts…eyes…"

"Huh?"

"Really…bad…hangover…"

"Oh. Sorry." She closed the curtains. Then she was perky again.

"You should get dressed now. Breakfast will be in five minutes!" She bounced over to the door. "See you then!"

"Um, thanks." Zen said, but Elena had already left.

Ten minutes later, Zen was fully dressed and walking down the hall to where she thought the dining room was. She felt uncomfortable in the over starched black suit, and the white, fluorescent-lit hallways were stark and bare, which gave a rather unnerving sense of stillness.

She turned left, and saw a white door. She could hear voices coming from within. With a sigh of relief, she opened the door and stepped inside.

Inside the room was a long rectangular oak table, covered by a spotless white tablecloth, which was, in turn, covered by plates, trays of food, and bowls of fresh fruit.

Sitting around the table were four people-three men and Elena-in dark suits almost identical to Zen's own. Seated at the head of the table was none other than Rufus Shinra himself. Everyone was picking daintily at their food with forks, knives, spoons, and other utensils, except for one of the dark-suited men, a redhead, who was shoveling food down his throat like there was no tomorrow. The others were ignoring his bad manners.

"Ah, good morning, Miss Fellows." Rufus said, barely glancing up from his grapefruit.

"Um, good morning, Sir." Zen replied awkwardly, looking for a place to sit down.

"Psst! Zen! Over here!" Elena whispered loudly.

"Oh. Thanks." She pulled out the chair to the left of Elena, noticing too late that she had sat down directly across from the impolite redhead.

Elena eagerly started to introduce her to the others seated at the table.

Gesturing to the huge man who had picked her up last night (who was still wearing his sunglasses), She said, "This is Rude. Rude, say hello to Zen!"

Rude looked at her over his sunglasses. "I believe we have already met."

Zen blushed. "Er, hello."

Rushing on, Elena pointed to the other man who had been in the bar last night, a dark haired man with a strange black dot in the center of his forehead. "This is Tseng…"

"Hi."

And then, she gestured vaguely towards the bad-mannered redhead.

"That's Reno."

Reno looked up, smirking slightly. "Yo."

Elena gave Zen a pitying smile. "Reno'll be showing how things work, and how to get around. Hopefully you'll be able to learn something without being sexually harassed."

Zen felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Elena swiftly changed the subject. "Wow, these look like great…um…toast! Um, yeah, the toast looks great today! You should have some, Zen!" She said nervously, piling food onto a plate.

_It's gonna be a looong day…_


	3. Chapter 3

After a breakfast that tasted like sawdust, despite its opulence, everyone had abandoned Zen, even Elena.

"I'd come with you, but I have to do a loooot of paperwork!" she whispered, before slipping off down the hallway after Tseng.

"Paperwork. Suuure," Zen muttered.

A voice came from her shoulder. "I'm sure Tseng will be "helping" her with her paperwork, if ya know what I mean."

Spinning around, she saw Reno casually leaning on the wall behind her. She scowled.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." He drawled obnoxiously. "Elena and Tseng do a lot of paperwork together," He continued, "I've seen Tseng shopping for office supplies. And we all know that the only _possible_ reason he could have for buying condoms would be to use as pencil holders."

Zen stiffened. "Why is it any of your business?"

The redhead smirked and took a drag on a cigarette. "It isn't. But that doesn't mean I don't know."

"Let's just get this over with." She sighed, glaring.

Twenty minutes and what seemed like an eternity later, Reno was finally leading Zen to her office. She would be sharing with Rude, the big, quiet guy from last night.

She'd lost count of the amount of times that Reno had said something disturbing, stupid, or sex-related. He had been crass, obnoxious, impolite, vulgar, and generally annoying.

Zen had known him for less than an hour, and she hated him already.

She reached for the doorknob of her new office, but Reno put an arm in front of her, casually leaning on the door while blocking her way in.

"So, Zen." He said. "If you ever need someone to show you around or somethin', like a drinkin' buddy, you can just call me. I'm free most days after work."

Zen scowled coldly.

"Truthfully, Sir, I find you rather offensive. I doubt that I would ever want to meet you anywhere outside of an unavoidable destination, like work."

The redhead looked taken aback for a moment, then regained his composure.

"Yeah, but if you ever wanted someone to show you around, I could-"

"Excuse me, Sir?" Zen said.

"What?" Reno said, annoyed at being interrupted.

Zen glared at him calmly.

"You're staring at my tits."

"I am not!"

Suddenly, she grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him towards her so that his nose was inches away from hers.

"Do NOT patronize me, you obtuse chauvinist." She hissed. "Or I will maim you."

"Okay."

She set him down, and walked into the office, slamming the door behind her.

Reno smiled and lit another cigarette.

_Score._

Zen sat down at her desk, fuming.

_Jerk._

Rude glanced at his new coworker.

_I think she may have anger issues._

Tseng and Elena thought unprintable thoughts.

_Censored._

Rufus sat at his desk, and looked over the newest addition to his files.

_Interesting. Very, very interesting._


	4. Chapter 4

"A-a-a-ACHOOOO!"

Zen ducked as a glob of projectile phlegm narrowly missed hitting her face. "Geez, Rude, you've gotta do something about that cold!" she said, spinning around in her blue office chair to face her co-worker.

The big man blew his nose into a large spotted handkerchief. "I'b fine, Zeb. Jubst a bittle stubbfy." He sneezed again.

Zen shot a worried look at Rude. He'd had this cold all week, and it wasn't getting any better. She was worried he might have the flu, but the big guy was so fixed on having no sick days to mar his spotless record that he refused to take a day off.

She stood up. "I'm going to get some coffee. You want anything?"

"Could you grab be an absprib?"

"A WHAT?"

An ASPRIBN."

She shook her head. "Oh. An aspirin. Yeah, sure."

She left the room, but didn't go to the employee lounge. Instead, she headed straight to Tseng's office. She was going to ask him to give Rude a few days off.

She was about to knock on the door, when she heard someone speaking inside. The voices were muffled, but she could understand what they were saying if she leaned in close enough.

"-as I have said before, she must be kept under strict surveillance. She doesn't know about her condition, and-"

"How could she not know about it? She turns into that…. that THING that you showed me a picture of?"

"After she transforms back, she has no memory of her change. She will think that she as just passed out."

Zen leaned closer. _Oh no._ She thought. _Did something happen to Elena on her last mission?_

"Sir, I don't understand. If she's this much of a security risk, then why did you hire her?"

Suddenly, Zen realized who the voices were. It was Tseng and Rufus.

"She's not a risk. If she can be controlled until Hojo finishes the experiment that he's working on right now, then maybe we can develop a cure."

"But Sir, this is so unprecedented! What if she transforms in the middle of a mission and kills innocent people? We can't risk that happening!"

She heard someone walking across the room, and she flattened herself against the wall, becoming invisible as the door opened and out walked President Shinra.

'Let me assure you, Tseng," he said. "As long as we keep Zen Fellows under surveillance and away from anything that could trigger her change, we will be fine."

He closed the door behind him and scanned the hallway with his eyes. It was a habit of his, to check that he wasn't being followed. Suddenly, he heard the sound of breathing coming from a shadowed wall. He could see the vague shape of a figure there.

Drawing his gun, he aimed at the figure and said, in a calm voice, "Come out from where you're hiding or I'll blow a hole in your chest."

Zen melted out from the shadows. Her face was stony, and her eyes had changed from their usual serene sea green to a fiery, blazing red. She did not have her weapon drawn, and her hands were at her sides, fists clenched.

Rufus lowered his gun. "Zen. I thought you were working."

Zen was standing behind him before he could blink.

"I heard everything." She said in a low, sultry voice.

The blonde was at a loss for words. "Oh. Are you…uh…upset?"

"That you didn't tell me?" she stroked his back, tracing the creases in the suit and slowly moving her hands under to touch his bare back. "A little."

She whispered in his ear, and he felt a chill roll down his spine. He knew he was in trouble. Zen didn't usually act like this. He thought about calling for help from Tseng, but decided to try to reason with her.

"Look, Zen, there's a good reason that I didn't tell you. If you had known about the-"

She leaned up against him, pressing her thin hands harder into his back. "Shhh." She crooned. "Be a good boy. If you calm down, I'll make it fast. You won't feel a thing. Except maybe excruciating pain."

She smiled coldly. "Tell me. What do you think about dying a slow and agonizing death in the arms of a beautiful woman?"

"Sorry. That's not my cup of tea." He said.

"Well, that's just too bad. We're all out of everything else." She sighed. "You'll just have to grin and bear it."

And then ten devilishly sharp, three-foot-long talons shot out of her fingertips.

Rufus gasped as they pierced his flesh, sliding into him like butter on a hot knife. He could only gape at the curved, razor-sharp blades that stuck out of his chest and stomach, covered with his own, scarlet blood.

"Wh-why?" he managed to choke out, as red spots danced in front of his eyes and blood trickled from the edge of his mouth. Just above the sound of his slowing heartbeat, he could hear her answer.

"Naughty boys have to be punished."

And then, as the president of Shinra Electric Power Company collapsed, sliding further back on the talons as his body crumpled to it's knees, still grossly suspended above the floor by the fingers holding him, as his head lolled, Zen Fellows, or the creature that had once been Zen Fellows, laughed.

Loudly.


	5. Chapter 5

At the sound of the manic laughter, Tseng ran out of his office. Drawing his gun, he froze at the sight of the president. His eyes widened as he recognized Zen.

She caught his eye and smirked. "This one's for you, love."

Without warning, two huge, black, leathery wings burst out of her shoulder blades, shredding her clothes and exposing her skin, which had hardened into silvery scales. Her hair grew at an accelerated rate, until it reached her knees, and two black horns sprouted from her forehead.

Tseng grabbed a walkie-talkie from his belt. "Code Red! I repeat, Code Red! All Turks to the third corridor! NOW!"

Te creature that had once been Zen chuckled as she pushed Rufus off her claws. He fell to the floor with a sickening thump.

"Awww, does little Tseng need some help getting rid of little old me?" she growled, baring her glistening fangs.

She took a step forward, just as Reno, Elena, and Rude ran around the corner.

"Tseng, what's going onHOLY CRAP!" Reno squeaked. "What the hell IS that thing???"

Elena gasped. "Omigod, President Shinra!" She pointed at the inert body that was bleeding silently onto the floor. Without a word, Rude scooped his boss up.

"I'll take him to the hospital." He said, with only the faintest traces of emotion in his voice.

Tseng motioned with his hand. "Go! There's not much time!" He turned to Elena. "Elena, go to my desk! In the third drawer there's a syringe. Bring it to me, as quick as you can!"

Reno turned to Tseng. "Wadda I do?" he asked.

"Fight it!"

He nodded. "Oh. That works."

The monster advanced towards the black haired Wutaian man. "You're next, Boss." She growled, licking her lips.

"Yo! Ugly! Over here!"

She spun around and got a zap in the chest. Reno had drawn his EMR, and wasn't afraid to use it.

"You fool!" She barked at him. "You're going to try to fight me with a stick?"

The redhead grinned. "Not just a stick. A MAGIC stick!" He flicked the power up to level three, or, as he liked to call it, "fricassee", jumping onto the monsters back and grabbing it by the horns, zapping it repeatedly.

Tseng emptied his gun into the creature's chest, causing it to howl in pain and thrash about as it rose into the air, carried by its wings. Reno whooped, zapping it harder.

Suddenly, Elena ran out, carrying the syringe. She threw it up to Reno, who caught it with one hand.

"Now what?" he called down to Tseng.

"Inject it at the base of the neck!" The black haired man yelled back.

Reno gave the thumbs up. "Gotcha!" he yelled, before sticking the needle into the beast.

It gave a startled cry, before shuddering violently and beginning to shrink.

The horns were first to go, retracting into the skull, then the scales, which melted back into peachy flesh, then the claws, which shot back into the fingers.

Last to go were the wings, which crept back, leaving faint red scars on the back of the woman.

And then Reno was falling, still clinging to the de-mutated body of Zen Fellows. They landed with a thump on the tiled floor, as Tseng and Elena ran up to them. Elena gasped at seeing her comrade. "Zen???"

Tseng wiped his forehead. "I told him it wasn't safe. I told him she was unstable…" he turned to Reno. "Quick, Reno. Tie her up before she regains consciousness."

The redhead just gaped at Zen. "But…but Sir, she's…Sir, she's obviously not okay! We can't tie her up in this state!"

Tsneg glared. "You saw what she did to the president. Now tie her up."

Elena placed a dainty hand over her mouth. "Oh Gods, I think I'm going to be sick…"

Reno slung Zen over his shoulder. "What should I do with her?"

Tseng glanced at the body in disgust. "Give her to Hojo."


End file.
